Google acquires HTC team in $1.1 billion agreement to beef up hardware division

Google CEO Sundar Pichai at last year’s hardware event, where the company announced its first batch of self-branded devices.Ramin Talaie/Stringer

Google has signed a $1.1 billion cooperation agreement with HTC, the technology company said in a statement on Thursday, after trading of HTC shares were halted on Taiwan’s stock exchange before the announcement.

The Google hardware exec Rick Osterloh said in a statement: “With this agreement, a team of HTC talent will join Google as part of the hardware organization.”

“These future fellow Googlers are amazing folks we’ve already been working with closely on the Pixel smartphone line,” Osterloh said, adding that the deal included a nonexclusive license for HTC intellectual property.

This isn’t the first time Google has taken a stake in a smartphone manufacturer, with its past efforts experiencing mixed results.

The search giant hired Osterloh, who had been Motorola’s chief operating officer, as its first hardware czar in April of last year and formally put together a hardware team under his leadership.

That resulted in the first solely-Google-branded phone, the Pixel (as well as the larger Pixel XL), and also the Daydream View virtual reality headset. Earlier this year, the Google Home smart speaker followed.

When the first batch of made-by-Google devices was unveiled, Osterloh said that hardware was an important component of the tech titan’s business and that the company would be in it “for the long run.” The acquisition of HTC looks like further proof of this commitment.